RAMBLING FURTHER
BY ANOTHER OLD NATIVE.
OUR ANONYMOUS WRITER BEGINS HIS NEXT SECTION WITH SOME EMOTIVE AND PURPOSEFUL THINKING AND I FIND MYSELF WISHING FOR SIMILAR THINGS TODAY AS I CONTEMPLATE OUR VERY DIFFERENT SOCIETY WHICH HAS CHANGED SO MUCH SINCE HIS DAY.
" IN CONTINUING MY NOTES ON THE LEADING CITIZENS OF WHITEHAVEN WHO WERE THE ELITE OF SOCIETY, THE BACKBONE OF TRADE AND COMMERCE AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF THE REIGN OF OUR OST GRACIOUS QUEEN, I SINCERELY HOPE THAT THERE ARE MANY LIVING WHO WILL BE REFRESHED IN MEMORY, AS THEY, LIKE MYSELF, LOOK BACK TO THE DAYS OF THEIR YOUTH AND REMEMBER MANY A KIND LOOK OR WORD GIVEN TO THEM BY THOSE WHO HAVING FAITHFULLY SERVED THE INTERESTS OF OUR TOWN HAVE PASSED FROM US BELOVED BY ALL AND TO MEMORY DEAR; AND THOSE OF YOUR YOUNG READERS WHO TAKE AN INTEREST IN THE PAST HISTORY OF THE TOWN, WILL HAVE, I HOPE, HANDED DOWN TO THEM BY MY FEEBLE PEN MEN WORTHY OF EMULATION AND PRACTICAL EXAMPLE. LAST WEK IN WRITING MY EARLY RECOLLECTIONS OF THE BROCKLEBANK WORTHY, MY THOUGHTS WANDERED TO TRADESMEN OF THOSE DAYS AND IT WILL BE BUT JUST AND HONES TO SAY MORE ABOUT THEM BY AND BYE, FOR THEY DESERVE MORE THAN A PASSING NOTICE. AS IN THE BUILDING OF A FORTRESS, A PALACE, OR A CITY, IT IS THE CEMENTING TOGETHER OF ALL THE PARTS INVOLVED THAT ULTIMATELY CROWNS THE WHOLE WITH SYMMETRY, GRACEFULNESS AND SUCCESS, SO WITH MUNICIPALITIES AND POWERS; WHERE THE WEALTHY GENTLEMEN; THE OBLIGING PERSEVERING TRADESMEN, AND A THRIVING CONTENTED AND INDUSTRIOUS PUBLIC , PULL TOGETHER, FRIENDSHIPS ARE FIRMLY UNITED, THINGS ARE SURE TO PROSPER AND HAPPINESS EXISTS. AT THE TIME ABOUT WHICH I WRITE, I THINK ALL WHO CAN REMEMBER WILL AGREE THAT TRADE WAS MORE REGULAR WEEK IN AND WEEK OUT. THE LARGE FLEET OF COASTING VESSELS WHICH ENTERED OUR HARBOUR TO LOAD COAL ALONE, BROUGHT WITH IT A VAST AMOUNT OF TRADE TO SMALL SHOPKEEPERS , ROPEMAKERS AND ESPECIALLY SHIPS CHANDLERS."
THE BROCKLEBANK YARD WAS BY FAR THE MOST IMPORTANT OF ALL WHITEHAVEN'S SHIPYARDS. AND MAPS LIKE THIS ONE BY JOHN WOOD, CLEARLY SHOW THE LOCATION AND SIZE OF THE THEIR UNDERTAKING. A LARGE SLICE OF THE NORTH SHORE WAS TAKEN UP BY THEIR YARDS AND THE ATTENDANT ROPERY.
THE ROSE IS BUT ONE OF THE MANY TALL SHIPS WHICH HAVE DROPPED ANCHOR HERE OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS AND A GLIMPSE AT ANY ONE OF THEM CLEARLY SHOWS THE IMPORTANCE OF THE ROPE MAKERS . NOT SURPRISINGLY THEN THE BROCKLEBANKS WERE NOT ALONE IN THE MAKING OF ROPE . OTHER WELL KNOWN FAMILIES LIKE THE SPEDDINGS, LUTWIDGES ,LITTLEDALES AND HAMILTONS EITHER RAN ,OR SHARED IN THE RUNNING, OF ROPE COMPANIES.
THE ROSE
THE HARTLEYS.
" SECOND TO NONE IN THEIR EFFORTS TO BUILD UP THE INTERESTS OF OUR TOWN AND TRADE IN DAYS GONE BY, MR MILLOM HARTLEY, OF ROSE HILL, IN THE PARISH OF MORESBY , AND MR THOMAS HARTLEY , OF GILLFOOT NAR EGREMONT , WERE MY GENERATION.....AND I THINK I AM RIGHT WHEN I SAY THAT BY THEIR ENDEAVOURS AND BUSINESS TACT THEY, ALONG WITH SUCH GENTLEMEN AS MR GEORGE HARRISON OF LOWTHER STREET AND LINETHWAITE, LAID THE FOUNDATION OF ONE , IF NOT TWO, OF OUR LOCAL BANKS. THEY LEFT THE TOWN BETTER THAN THEY FOUND IT, AND IN THEIR RESPECTED SONS WHO I WILL INTRODUCE AS GENTLEMEN WELL KNOWN ON THE PUBLIC OFFICE FLAGS, G.W.HARTLEY ESQ; J.P OF ROSE HILL ; JOHN HARTLEY ESQ; MORESBY AND THOMAS HARTLEY ESQ; GILLFOOT WE HAD THREE GENUINE SHIPS OFF THE OLD BLOCK. ALTHOUGH POSSESSED OF CONSIDERABLE WEALTH AND PROPERTY, THEY TOOK A LIVELY INTEREST IN TRADE AND EVERYTHING APPERTAINING TO THE WELFARE OF OUR NATIVE TOWN.THEY FITTED UP THEIR ROPERY AT CORKICKLE WITH THE MOST IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MAKING ROPES BY STEAM POWER. MR DAWSON WAS THEIR FOREMAN. AFTER THE INNOVATIONS UPON THEIR TERRITORY, SO MANY YEARS HELD AND WORKED AT BRANSTY, BY THE GENTLEMEN I REFERRED TO LAST WEEK, THE MESSRS BROCKLEBANK, THAT FIRM PURCHASED HARTLEY'S ROPERY AND REMOVED FROM BRANSTY; BUT SOME YEARS AGO THEY GAVE UP THAT BUSINESS , AS THEY HAD DONE THE SHIPBUILDING INDUSTRY, AND LEFT ANOTHER BLANK AND VACANT PLACE, AND I AM AFRAID WE SHALL HAVE TO WAIT A LONG TIME ERE WE SHALL SEE OUR WORKMEN EMPLOYED IN THAT PARTICULAR BRANCH OF TRADE, ONCE SO COMMON AND FLOURISHING IN WHITEHAVEN. THE ROPEMAKERS WERE LIKE THE WEAVERS AND THE SAILMAKERS, A VERY IMPORTANT PORTION OF OUR WORKING MEN. WHO CAN FORGET THE GRAND TURNOUT THEY MADE IN THE GREAT PROCESSION OF TRADES AND CLUBS ON THE OCCASION OF THE CROWNING OF OUR BELOVED QUEEN? WITH BANNERS FLYING AND BANDS PLAYING, EACH TRADE TRIES TO OUTVIE THE OTHER IN LOYALTY BY THEIR BEAUTIFUL BANNERS AND INGENIOUS DEVICES. WELL DO I REMEMBER THE ROPERS WITH THEIR BLUE SILK BANNER WITH WHITE SILK CENTRE, SHOWING " HOPE AND THE ANCHOR " AND THE MOTTO UNDER WAS PRESENTED TO THEM BY JOHN BROCKLEBANK ESQ; FOR THE OCCASION. IN ADDITION TO THE ROPERIES OF THE MESSRS BROCKLEBANK AT BRANSTY, AND THE MESSRS HARTLEY AT CORKICKLE, THERE WAS ALSO THE TWINE WALK OF MR MARMADUKE BATEMAN , IN HIGH STREET , IN THE FIELD OPPOSITE.".......??????
SIR CHRISTOPHER LOWTHER'S CORRESPONDENCE INDICATES THE PRESENCE OF A ROPE MAKER IN WHITEHAVEN AND THIS EARLIEST PICTURE OF THE TOWN DATED 1642 CLEARLY SHOWS THE PRESENCE OF A ROPE WALK INDICATED HERE BY THE SERIES OF HURDLES CROSSING THE CENTRE OF THE IMAGE.
IN SIR JOHN LOWTHER'S TIME A SUGGESTION WAS MADE TO INSERT A ROPE WALK IN THE MARKET PLACE BUT IT NEVER MATERIALISED BUT PARR'S COPY OF MATTHIAS READ'S PAINTING OF THE 1730'S CLEARLY SHOWS ANOTHER ROPEWALK FOLLOWING THE LINE OF OUR PRESENT GEORGE STREET. THIS WAS CALLED HARTLEY'S ROPE WALK
OTHER MAPS SHOW THAT HARTLEYS ALSO HAD ROPEWALKS STRETCHING BETWEEN THE FLATT WALKS AND THE GINNS WHICH IS WHY WE NOW HAVE A LANE ON THE SITE CALLED ROPEWALKS LANE.
ROPEWALKS LANE
NOT SURPRISINGLY ALL EVIDENCE OF THIS ANCIENT INDUSTRY HAS LONG DISAPPEARED ALTHOUGH ROPER STREET TENDS TO CONJURES UP MEMORIES OF IT WHILST, BRANCHING OFF ROPER STREET IS A LANE NOW CALLED COATES LANE THE ORIGINAL TITLE OF WHICH WAS R0PERY LANE STREET SEEMINGLY NAMED AFTER THE TOWN'S FIRST ROPER ,ONE CAESAR BARNES WHO LIVED THERE
COATES LANE.
UNFORTUNATELY THERE IS A GAP IN THE ORIGINAL DOCUMENT AT THIS POINT ..10 PAGES
SEEM TO HAVE BEEN LOST AND SADLY HIS THOUGHTS ON OTHER WORTHY FAMILIES HAVE ALSO GONE